In the field of benefit planning, an individual can enroll in various benefit plans. As examples, an individual can enroll in a medical benefit plan, a dental benefit plan, a vision benefit plan, a life insurance benefit plan, a disability benefit plan, and other types of benefit plans. An individual who is enrolled in a benefit plan is considered to be a participant or a member in that plan. A participant in a benefit plan can receive certain benefits from a provider or a carrier of the benefit plan (“plan provider”), as defined under the terms of the benefit plan.
Various expenses can be incurred by a participant under the terms of a benefit plan. A plan provider can charge a certain premium for a participant to participate in a particular benefit plan. Additionally, a plan provider can charge certain deductibles, copays, and coinsurance percentages for a participant to use various products and/or services covered by a particular benefit plan.
The expenses incurred by a participant under a particular benefit plan can be paid in different ways. The participant and/or a sponsor of the benefit plan, such as the participant's employer, can directly pay for some or all of these expenses. In some instances, the participant and/or the sponsor can contribute funds to a benefits account for the participant. Funds from the benefits account can then be used to pay for some or all of the expenses incurred by the participant.
Before enrolling in a benefit plan, it can be useful for a potential participant to estimate expenses to be incurred by their participation in benefit plans and by their use of benefits under the benefit plans. However, it can be difficult for a potential participant to estimate these expenses. In order to estimate expenses to be incurred under benefit plans, a potential participant would use information from a variety of sources, which may not be readily available to the potential participant. Further, it can also be difficult for a potential participant to compare expenses under one benefit plan with expenses under another benefit plan, since the terms of the benefit plans may be quite different. As a result, it can be difficult for an individual to estimate and compare expenses to be incurred by their participation in various benefit plans.